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George Orwell’s
1984
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*//bookstats
Written in 1949 in England, first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. the same year.
Set in 1984, London (‘Airstrip One’ in the book’s alternate universe), England
3rd person omniscient narrator that never enters the action
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Eric Arthur Blair was born in India, 1903
Family moved to England in 1907
Worked in the police force in Burma for several years and lived in Paris for two years before returning to London.
Was wounded fighting for the republicans in Spain in 1986.
Served in the home guard during WW2, working for the BBC.
Regularly contributed political and literary commentary in several papers.
Gained fame from Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).
Died in London January 1950.
George Orwell
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*//plotsynopsis
Winston Smith
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*//themesthe past
”History is written by the victors”
“Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past”
“…if the facts say otherwise then the facts must be altered.”
“History has stopped. Nothing exists except in an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
“…process of continuous alteration.”
” The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.”
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*//themestotalitarian rule
” Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”
“Keeping the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world was achieved by continuous warfare.”
“The discontents produced by his bare, unsatisfying life are deliberately turned outwards and dissipated by such devices as the Two Minutes Hate…”
”... belief that BIG BROTHER is omnipotent and that the Party is infallible.”
” …to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out.”
“Power is not a means, it is an end.”
Proles – the only that can cause a change in the world, bring the party down, so they must be kept in ignorance of things ever being different.
Poverty – the people will be too preoccupied surviving from day to day to think of rebellion.
War – use up the surplus after supplying the polulation with the bare neccessities, keep morale to a neccessary pitch, justify handing all power to a small group
Doublethink - the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.
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*//themesfreedom&technology
“In all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards…war and police espionage”
Facecrime/thoughtcrime
”... no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.”
”... everyone could be surrounded night and day by informers”
“If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can't have any result whatever, you've beaten them.”
protective stupidity
Crimestop - the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought.
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*//themeslanguage
"The whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought.“
“…make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
”... eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained.”
“…seemed not merely to have lost the power of expressing himself…”
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*//themesregret
“Just once in his whole life he had held in his hands unmistakable documentary proof of the falsification of an historical fact.”
“…I believed I had murdered my mother? ... I didn't murder her. Not physically.”
“If you keep clear of people like me, you might stay alive for another fifty years.”
“…there was just one person to whom he could transfer his punishment …”
“He was a lonely ghost uttering a truth that nobody would ever hear.”
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*//themesrestraint&disguises
“…anything that suggested a taste for solitude, even to go for a walk by yourself, was always slightly dangerous.”
“…just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taken in by it.”
“…possible that his features had not been perfectly under control. It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away.”
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Regret
Stevens regrets letting Miss Kenton go, Lord Darlington’s misfortunes, and how he’s spent his life.
Winston regrets his opposition, the way things are, his lost time with Julia.
Restraint
Stevens holds back all emotions = dignity
Winston must at all times hide his real self and blend in with the masses
Imprisonment
Stevens in Darlington Hall
Winston in his role as loyal Party member
The Past
Stevens alters past events to put himself in a better light, and tries to retain and regain the past.
The Party changes history at will to serve its agenda and keep them in power. Winston longs for the past and searches for proof that it was better than the present.
Playing roles
Stevens keeps up his facade and impersonates Lord Darlington.
Winston plays a role for survival, but also treats resistance as a game.
The Remains of the Day
Blindness
Stevens has been blind all his life, and makes many mistakes
Winston trusts the wrong people, and refuses to see the truth.
Journeys
Stevens goes on both a metaphorical and physical journey.
Winston goes in search of the past, and undergoes both physical and mental change.
Doublethink
Stevens manages to convince himself of the truth of his lies as a protective measure.
Party members use ’protective stupidity’ to keep from questioning the Party.
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